Process of refining oils.



SAMUEL W. WHITMDRE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

PROCESS OF REFINI'NG OILS.

No Drawing.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL W. WHIT- MORE, a citizen of the United States, resident of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, have invented anew and'useful Improvement in Processes of Refining Oils, of which the following is a specification, the principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that'principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions. My invention relates to the distillation of crude petroleum or certain of its products and has for its object the making from certain kinds of crude petroleum of inferior quality or certain of the products thereof,

economically employed in the distillation commercial products of higher grade, and in a more economical manner, than have heretofore been obtained by methods at present used. in so far as .I am aware.

As is well known, the supply of crude petroleum, similar to that which is known as Pennsylvania crude, is continually becoming scarcer and more expensive, and my inventionhas for a specific purpose the refining of inferior crude oils such'as are found in the Lima fields, with'the production of commercial products by more economical methods than those at present used, and especially with the production of heavy distillates for lubricating purposes from such inferior crude oils, that are free from objectionable odors and hence of great commercial importance. Incidentally my invention contemplates the treatment of such crude oil and its products without the necessity of materially changing the existing style of equipment or apparatus -and concurrently without the necessity of changing materially the simple process of distillation now and for so long a time and so of Pennsylvania crude oils. It is also desirable, as will be,readily understood, and as is now well known, to obtain from the crude petroleum commercial constituents having the highest degree of absence of impurities and in the case of gasolene, benzin and illuminating oils in addition the highest possible degree of clarity. or whiteness in appearance.

In carrying out my invention as applied to crude oils of lower grade such as Limacrude, the latter are treated with naphthalene while being subjected to what is known as the Pennsylvania process.

specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented J an. 19, 1915.

Application filed March 28, 1914. Serial No. 827,908.

.first gi'ven off, followed by the next heavier constituent, as benzin, and then the water white distillates or illuminants. The remaining substance or residuum in the still, in the case of these latter petroleums, consists chiefly of lubricating oils and paraffin or asphaltum. These distillates are successively condensed and led into separate receptacles or tanks by means of apparatus well known to those skilled in the art and after separation are collected, and then treated by agitation with sulfuric acid for the purpose of clarification. After this treatment the bulk of the acid is separated and the oil then neutralized with a solution of caustic soda after which it is washed with water by means of a suitable agitator. In applying my improved process to the low grade crude oils. I add naphthalene before distillation in the proportion of from five hundred (500) to eight hundred (800) pounds for every five thousand (5000) gallons of crude petroleum. The resulting distillates are found to ,be of a greatly improved qualitv as compared with those pro duced by simple distillation, in that their odor is greatly improved and their color lighter by a marked degree. This is true to such an extent in regard to the odor as to render unnecessarv the customary method of treating such distillates by adding a caustic solution of lead compounds, or of distillation with copper oxid. or other similar methods, marketable products being obtainable after applying my said proces by simply washing with acid and soda as previously described.

The effect of my improved treatment is particularly noticeable in the heavy distillates and heavy residuums of distillation which are commonly used for lubricating purposes, as these are found to be sufiiciently good in quality as to odor and other required qualities to be used for lubricants without further treatment.

As to the burning-oil distillates, my im proved process results in producing water white and other oils for illuminating uses superior, not only iii-clarity, odor, and candlepower, but in freedom from efi'ecting wick incrustation. For instance it has been shown that these oils continue to produce as high or even higher candle power after long continued burning tests, than is produced from similar grades of Pennsylvania distil lates, and are far superior in light producing qualities to similar distiliates from inferior grades of crude petroleum, when treated in accordance with my invention.

'In establishing the above facts I have caused burning tests to be applied to distillates made by my process and to similar distillite's from the same crude oil made in the same manner but without the addition of naphthalene, as well as to samples of distillates obtained in the open market and made from Pennsylvania and Illinois crude oils. These tests show the following losses of candle/power upon continuously burning in .Zla'mps'jwater white samples of the various above mentioned oils for a period of ten hours, the illuminating power at the start being takenas ,100. per, cent; crude distilled with "naphtha-I distilled with naphthalene, sixty-one per cent. (61%;) from Illinois crude (market n'oduct), forty-three per cent. (43% g) from lfennsylvania crude (market product), fifty-three per cent. (53%.) I have also found that I can advantageously treat heavy distillates or residuums from crude petro-' leums of inferior quality and obtain commercial products of great value therefrom, by simply heating such distillates or residuums with naphthalene in a proportion of one (1) pound of naphthalene with five (5) to ten (10) gallons of oil with a temperature of 200 to 400 F. Such products derived bv ordinary distillation from these crude weary six per cent. (26% from Lima crude not oils are ordinarily worthless for commercial purposes without further treatment, because of their extremely disagreeable odor. This odor, by my process, is entirely removed and the products rendered in every way has never heretofore been applied to the.

refining of crude petroleum, nor has it ever been used as an element for sweetening illsmelling distillates and especially lubricat ing oils or heavy residuums.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The process of separatirg hydrocarbon oil, into ..=its, constituent elements which conin" "fi'rst adding thereto naphthalene,

and then subjecting the resultant mixture to the process of distillation.

2. The process of separating hydrocarbon oil into its constituent elements which consists in adding naphthalene thereto in the proportion of from five hundred to eight hundred pounds 'to five thousand gallons of hydrocarbon oil, and then subjecting the resultant mixture to the process of distillation.

Signed by me, this 27th day of March,

SAMUEL W. WHITMORE. Attested by WM. BEASER, J r., C. A. BRETSCHNEIDER. 

